Government said measures restricted individual freedoms while critics say Saskatchewan\u0027s move is premature and risky.
Saskatchewan has long been an outlier in Canada for its light approach to public health measures. Alberta will end its masking rules on Tuesday, Premier Jason Kenney announced this weekend, but won’t take the added step of ending requirements that people with COVID-19 self-isolate. Saskatchewan is the only province in the country to take that step.
Saskatchewan was also among the first in the country to remove its vaccine passport system earlier this month. And unlike every other province, it never introduced capacity or gathering limits in response to the ongoing wave of COVID-19 fuelled by the Omicron variant of the virus, or the Delta-fuelled wave that preceded it.Article content
Dr. Saqib Shahab, chief medical health officer, told The Canadian Press residents should be optimistic, but added that people who have not had a vaccine booster shot should get one. “Booster shots are extremely protective against hospitalizations,” Shahab said. “The best thing we can do for ourselves, and reduce pressure in the health-care system, is to get boosted.”The province first removed all COVID-19 restrictions in July 2021, when